Vans emissions on the rise: T&E proposes to stop sales from 2035

Vans emissions on the rise

The CO2 emissions produced by vans are not decreasing, a cause that seems to be attributable to the less stringent targets that Europe has imposed on manufacturing companies. The alarm was raised by Transport & Environment which conducted a study in which it analyzes European emissions data for the past three years, trying to indicate some corrective measures that could be applied by Brussels. T&E itself believes that timely action is needed considering that van emissions represent the largest share of growth in different segments.

Vans are the fastest growing source of road transport emissions in the Union and since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, home deliveries have seen an exponential growth in online purchases. The Transport & Environment federation therefore believes that the emission targets set by the European Union for light commercial vehicles are too low, thus asking for a tightening of the same in such a way as to be able to guide the transition of the sector towards electric mobility, up to the achievement of a total decarbonisation.

Not surprisingly, this situation stands in stark contrast to the ambitious goals set for cars, which have led to a boom in electric vehicles in the Old Continent. While electric and plug-in hybrid cars already exceed the 10% market share in Europe, in the case of electric vans it barely reaches the 2% market share. Let us not forget, in fact, that sales of electric cars have increased thanks to the ambitious CO2 targets of cars, while sales of electric vans are set to stop between 2% and 8% by the end of the decade. The T&E study shows that if action is not taken now to get more electric vans on the road, the industry will not be able to decarbonise in time.

The organization says, however, that the European Union should aim to completely eliminate direct emissions from the light commercial vehicle sector by 2035, thereby banning the sale of models with internal combustion engines. The reduction for 2027 and 2030 should therefore be 31% and 60%.

We are facing a dangerous cocktail between the increase in sales of vans and the soaring emissions they produce . The standards that went into effect at the beginning of 2020 were supposed to make the vans cleaner, but the manufacturers had to do practically nothing to meet them. With the current CO2 targets far from ambitious, the e-commerce boom is becoming a nightmare for our planet and for the air quality of our cities, commented Carlo Tritto, Policy Officer of Transport & Environment Italia .

The T&E Federation therefore believes that the European Union should anticipate the standards on the reduction of CO2 emissions from 2030 to 2027, so as to aim at much more ambitious targets than the current ones, such as a emissions by 60% by 2030, before aiming for the total elimination of the latter by 2035. The same stated that a method to accelerate this transition would be to prevent the construction of plug-in hybrid vans, to give more space to electricity.

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Electric cars on the rise in Braintree

MORE drivers are going green as the number of electric vehicles registered in the areas surge.

Department for Transport figures show 505 ultra-low emissions vehicles were licensed in Braintree at the end of last years- 172 more than the year prior.

The figures include battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric (ULEVs), and fuel cell electric vehicles.

Of the additions, the majority, 127 vehicles, were registered to private keepers, while 45 were to the addresses of local firms.

Overall ULEVs still only accounted for around 0.5 per cent of all vehicles licensed in Braintree at the end of 2020 – below the UK average of 1.1 per cent.

In Braintree, 249 of the ULEVs licensed at the end of the year were battery electric vehicles- defined as zero emissions.

A further 217 were plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, which combine an electric motor with a petrol or diesel engine.

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The Government has committed to ending the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, and ensuring all new sales are “zero emissions at the tailpipe” by 2035.

In March, the Government cut grants for electric car buyers from £3,000 to £2,500 and lowered the cap of eligible cars to £35,000, down from £50,000.

'With the climate emergency worsening, increases in electric vehicle sales are always welcome,” said Kerry McCarthy, Labour's shadow minister for green transport.

“However, rather than encouraging this trend, the Government seems to be doing all it can to stifle progress by slashing subsidies to electric vehicles and failing to set out a roadmap to smoothly transition away from petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030.

“We need to see a clear, long-term vision from the Government to support the British car industry, as well as action to support electric vehicle sales, making them affordable to families and rolling out adequate charging infrastructure.'

Across the UK, around 431,600 ULEVs were licensed at the end of 2020 – an increase of 162,300 over the year.

The majority of the spike – around 101,800 – were company-registered.